Ear muff



G. G. BEAN March 7, 1939.

EAR MUFF Filed May 26, 1937 Patented Mar. 7, 1938 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE George Gf on ifton, Mass.

Application May 25, 1937,501'131 N0. 144,799

4 Claims. (CL 2-209) This invention relates to improved ear-muffs 'and to combinations of the same with ear-mull! supporting assemblies. Such, assemblies ordinarily are provided with oval portions to fit over the ears, these portions being connected by a member designed to extend over the head of the wearer of the ear-muffs. The sheet material of the ear-muffs has been secured on the oval supports by stitching and, in many cases, this 19 has involved a laborious and relatively expensive stitching operation which could only be permore, this invention permits ready reversal of the position of the muffs on the supports by the wearer, so that, for example, the villous portions 25 of the muffs can be turned inwardly toward the ears, thus permitting additional warmth when desired. Furthermore, while one surface of' the muff may conveniently be provided by fur or the like, the opposite surface may be smooth and o continuous, so that when the muffs are turned inside out, the appearance thereof is materaflly altered. If desired, for example, the oppositesurfaces of the muffs may have entirely different colors, permitting the muffs to be reversed to 35 harmonize with different costumes.

' To permit these desirable results,I secure an elastic element to the edge of the oval sheet member from which the muff is formed in such a manner that the marginal-portion of this sheet 0 tends to be drawn inwardly over the adjoining sheet portions, thus causing the sheet member to assume the form of a shallow, open-mouthed A pouch. Preferably the elastic element may be in the form of an elastic tape which may be stitched 45 by machineontothe edge of the sheet element.

The resulting muif may have its marginal portion secured over the edge of the oval support upon stretching of the elastic tape, thus being.

change in the appearance of the mud as applied to the support and permitting, if a villous surface is provided, the arrangement of such a surface either inwardly or outwardly of the support. In the accompanying drawing: Fig.1 is a side elevational view of a single ear muff constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar elevational view of the opposite side of the ear-muff;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3--3 of Fig.

Fig. 4 is an elevational veiw of a portion of an oval support to which the ear muff may be applied, parts being broken away; 16

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of an ear-muff assembly, one of the supports and ear-muffs being shown in section and a part being broken away;

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of one ear-muff support with the ear-muff applied thereto, but with parts broken away and shown in section, the. ear-muff being shown in a reversed position in this figure; and

Fig. 7 is a similar view but showing the ear-muff applied to the support in a different position.

' which may preferably have one villous woolly or furry surface and an opposite surface, such as is provided by the dressed leather from which the fur of the opposite surface extends or which may be provided by any suitable sheet element secured to this leather. Thus, if desired, both the fur and the opposite surface may be provided with matching colors, or these surfaces may be wardly. For this purpose an elastic tape 2 may be secured by a line of stitchings 3 to the sheet member 4. Preferably, as shown more particularly in Fig. 3, one edge of the tape 2 may be stitched in overlapping relation to the edge of the sheet member 4 fromwhioh the fur, pile,"or the like may be substantially removed. When the elastic tape is secured to the member 4 in this manner, it tends to draw the marginal portion pouch. Ordinarily the resulting ear-muff 5 will. be applied to ,anear-mufl support with its villous surface disposed outwardly.

The ear mufif support Imay form part of an ear-muff supporting assembly of suitable construction, such an assembly being shown, for example, in Figs. 4 and 5. This assembly comprises a pair of ear-muff supports 6 provided with ringlike wire frames 1, which preferably may-he oval. Each frame is covered with ,a sheet material:8 such as flannel, themar-ginal portion of the sheet material being turned over the wire and secured in place by any suitable means such as an adhesive or stitching. Thewire I at the upper part of the support has short downwardly extending "portions 9 which are connected by a transverse pintle portion Ill. The latter is disposed in the looped end of a sheet metal ear l3, and a transverse wire I4 is welded to the Wire portions 3 above the pintle 10 to afford a stop engageable with the ear [3, thus limiting outward swinging movement of the support relative to the ear l3, but permitting the support to swing inwardly.

The ear I3 is connected by a hollow rivet Hi or the like to one of the arcuate elements I! of a connector l8, the rivet l6 affording a pivotal connection which allows the ear-muff support 6 to swing in its own plane relative to the adjoining portion of the connector. The connector members I! are formed of thin resilient metal strips and are provided with curved overlapping portions which slide in mutual engagement, there being flattened bail elements 20 secured to the end of each member I! and slidably engaging the other member l1, thus holding the members in proper slidable overlapping engagement.

An ear-muff constructed in accordance with the present invention may be secured on each support 6. For this purpose the elastic element 2 is stretched to permit the marginalportion of the sheet member 4 to pass over the edge of the support. It is evident that when the muff has; been applied to the support in this manner, the

elastic tape 2 tends to draw the outer portion of the muff taut on the support and to hold the muff firmly in position. However, when desired, the muff may be removed from the support upon stretching the elastic tape 2 so that the edge of the sheet member may be drawnover the edge of the support. v

It is thus evident that this invention permits the ready application of the muffs to the respective supports of thgearr-muff assembly or the ready detachment of the mufis therefrom. However, this invention also permits the ear-muff to be turned inside out so that the position of its: surfaces on the support are reversed. Such a. feature is particularly advantageous with an earmuff having a smooth continuous surface and an opposite villous or furry surface, and is also ad vantageouswhen the opposite surfaces of the earmuff have distinctly diiferent appearances due either to the villous character of onesurface and the smooth even charactenof the other, or due to differences in color or the like.

Fig. 6 shows an ear-mufi 5 of the typeshown amasss mufl. It is evident that when the muff is ap-- elastic 2 holding'the muff in engagement with the lower part of the support in the manner which has been described and extending upwardly over the support, but being flexed laterally about the end of the corresponding connector member H,

with portions of. the elastic, however, at each side of this member I! fitting over the upper edge of the support, thus to hold the upper part of the muff in place. This arrangement permits the fur or the like to be worn directly in contactwith the ear, thus affording great warmth. By omitting the fiannel8 and applying the mufi in the manner shown in Fig. 6, directly upon the uncovered frame 1, the fur surface may be brought directly against the ear of the wearer.

A further advantage of the invention is that,

- apart from the feature of removability above dearound the wire frame 12 the woollyor furry surface of the margin faces toward the headof the wearer and acts as a soft, warm closure surrounding a concave interior which accommodate the ear of thewearer.

Without intending to restrict the invention or.

to limit the generality and inclusiveness of the flexible sheet material of which the muffs may be made, it is suggested that lambskin constitutes an excellent 'material for the mufis.

It isevident that the present invention afiords an advantageous ear-muff construction permitting ear-muffs quickly to be applied to the corresponding supports, to be firmly held in place thereon but, if desired, readily to be detached from the supports, and further, that this invention permits the detachable ear-muffs to be reversed and located in different positions on the supporting assembly to suit the individual tastes and requirements of the user of the muffs.

I claim:

1 The combination comprising. a pair of earmufis, oval supports on which the muffs-are detachably mounted, and a curved connector secured to said supports and adaptedto extend over the head of the wearer, each of said earmuffs being formed from a flexible sheet with an elastic element extending along its edge and yieldably drawing the marginal portions of the sheet inwardly to fit over the edge of the corresponding oval support, the elastic element being stretchable to permit the detachment of the muff from the corresponding support. l

2. The combination comprising a pair of earmufis, oval supports on which the mufis are d tachably mounted, and a curved connector secure to said supports and adapted to extend over the head of the wearer, ,each of said ear-mufls being formed from a flexible sheet with an elastic element extending along its edge and yieldably drawpermit the detachment of the mufi from the corresponding support, the detached mufi being reversible so that its previously inner surface may become its outer surface and in its reversed condition again being capable of fitting over the support.

' 3. The combination comprising a ring-like support, and an ear-mull detachably mounted there,- on, comprising a flexible fabric and an elastic strand secured to the edge of the fabric yieldingly tending to draw the margin inwardly to define a shallow pouch and adapted to be stretched to pass over the support to enable the ear-muff to be applied to or removed from the support.

4. The combination comprising a pair of supports for covering the human ears, a flexible connector secured to said supports and adapted to engage the head of the wearer, an ear-mull detachably mounted on each support, each mufi comprising a flexible fabric provided with a marginal strand, said strand normally being effective in drawing the margin of the fabric inwardly at the inner marginal surface of the support, so that the muff is normally in the form of a shallow pouch, said strand being capable of passing over the edge of the support while permitting the margin of the fabric to be extended, thereby enabling the ear-muff to be applied to and removed from the support.

GEORGE G. BEAN. 

